James Bridenstine

The White House nominated a veteran Senate aide with little space experience to be NASA’s deputy administrator July 12, a month after the agency’s administrator said he wanted someone with technical expertise for the job.

In his first congressional testimony since becoming NASA administrator a month ago, Jim Bridenstine sought to reassure Senate appropriators about the status of several agency programs threatened with cancellation, as well as his own views on climate change.

As House appropriators approved a spending bill May 17 that partially restores funding for a NASA astrophysics mission slated for cancellation, the agency’s administrator said he was “90 percent” confident that the mission will continue.

As NASA reviews the windfall it received in the 2018 omnibus spending bill last week, the agency is moving ahead with a reorganization of its space technology work that puts in question the future of some of its current projects.

Robert Lightfoot, who has led NASA on an interim basis for more than a year, announced March 12 that he will retire from the agency at the end of April, adding more uncertainty about the agency's leadership.

Several members of the House Science Committee used a hearing on NASA's latest budget proposal March 7 to criticize the Senate for not acting on the nomination of one of their colleagues to lead the agency.

A Senate committee voted on party lines Jan. 18 to advance the nominations of individuals to lead NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, although with no clear indication of when, or if, they will be confirmed by the full Senate.

The White House formally resubmitted nominations for leaders of both NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to the Senate Jan. 8, a procedural move even as the path to their confirmations becomes narrower.

During Bridenstine's confirmation hearing last fall, Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida led a full-throated, tag-team assault on Bridenstine, painting him as divisive on social issues and accusing him of being a “climate denier" and, most curious of all, a politician.